The present invention relates to an intake system component of an internal combustion engine including a porous material product, which is formed from a porous material, and a resin molded portion, which encompasses an outer edge of the porous material product and which is formed integrally with the porous material product, and to a method for manufacturing the intake system component of the internal combustion engine.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-21660 describes an example of an air cleaner for a vehicle internal combustion engine serving as one type of an intake system component. The air cleaner includes a porous material product formed from a porous material such as filter paper, nonwoven fabric, or open-cell sponge. The porous material product forms a wall of a housing of the air cleaner. The publication discloses insertion of the porous material product when molding a resin molded portion of the housing.
When forming the wall of the housing with the porous material product, the porous material is thermally pressed prior to the insert-molding. The thermal pressing forms the porous material into a predetermined shape and increases the filling density. This increases the rigidity of the wall. However, the amount of the molten resin with which the outer edge of the porous material product is impregnated is reduced when insert-molding is performed. Thus, the strength bonding the porous material product with the resin molded portion may become low, and the outer edge of the porous material product may be separated from the resin molded portion.